Teaching

Over the last few weeks, I've been leading small group sessions for first year medical students and teaching labs. You don't realize how much you don't know (or how much is unanswered) until you try to teach something. Furthermore, there are certain concepts like EKG axis that make a lot of intuitive sense to people with a strong math or physics background, but my challenge as an instructor is to figure out how to explain it to someone who doesn't think mathematically. I think there is an advantage to being a fourth year instructor in that I understand what background first year medical students have and I remember the kinds of explanations that worked for me. And I think the students I'm teaching have responded really well to my enthusiasm and trouble-shooting for difficult topics.

But more than that, I've been learning a whole new skill set for small group facilitation. Thrust into a leadership role, I have to figure out group dynamics, time management, communication skills, and how to cater to different learning styles. As small group leaders, we're not supposed to lecture, but instead, we're supposed to facilitate a dialogue of teaching and learning between the students. I think this is a lot harder. Some groups are dominated by that one loud person; other groups get sidetracked easily; other groups are less prepared. But the best way to learn leadership is to do it, and I think this teaching experience is really fantastic to my preparation to become a resident.